


Worlds to Behold

by Dimity Blue (Arnie)



Category: Hobson's Choice (1954)
Genre: Childbirth, Epilogue, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 10:57:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8141348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arnie/pseuds/Dimity%20Blue
Summary: "She's strong, our Maggie.  She'll be fine," Mr. Hobson said, for perhaps the fifth time.Will ignored him and continued pacing across the richly patterned carpet.





	

"She's strong, our Maggie. She'll be fine," Mr. Hobson said, for perhaps the fifth time.

Will ignored him and continued pacing across the richly patterned carpet.

A teacup rattled and Mr. Hobson sighed, as though wishing it was something stronger.

Will turned and walked back the other way. There were seven whorls going from left to right but eight going the other way. Curious, that.

"Can't you sit down, lad? Maggie'll not be best pleased if you wear a hole in her fine carpet."

It was a fine carpet, and Will remembered well the day Maggie had picked it out. It had been the day after they'd signed the lease for the shop in St. Anne's Square. He and Maggie had taken the time to choose carpets - a plainer carpet for the shop below and a fancy flowered affair for the sitting room in the two storey living quarters above. Will had thought it too fancy, with its whorls and roses, but his Maggie had wanted it and so they bought it. It was good quality carpet too and showed very little sign of wear from the three years it had been in place.

Not that Will had had occasion to pace back and forth on it before.

"She's strong, our Maggie. She'll be fine," Mr. Hobson said, for perhaps the sixth time, and Will would have flung a well-crafted boot at him, if he'd had one to hand. "Her mother never made much fuss about childbirth and Maggie's a lot like her mother. Of course, her mother never gave me any sons, so it's to be hoped Maggie'll do better."

Will did a sharp turn two whorls early.

Mr. Hobson sighed again and his teacup rattled. "Will you have some tea, lad? I'd offer you something stronger but there's none in the house, as you well know."

Aye, Will did know. For all that Maggie battled with her father, she wouldn't risk losing him by having alcohol in the house.

"The first baby always takes the longest," Mr. Hobson said, apparently incapable of keeping silent. Will had never known him so talkative before. "Alice didn't do so badly with her first - nor her second, think on - but Vicky had to be different. Maggie's sensible though; she'll not be taking all day about it."

As if in answer, there was a sharp wail from above - a baby's cry. Will fled for the stairs. Once at the top, he stopped. The door was still closed; footsteps and the murmur of voices from within showing he was not yet welcome. Will strained his ears, hoping to hear his Maggie's voice and have the worst of his worries put to rest.

"She's strong, our Maggie," Mr. Hobson said from behind Will. "Don't fuss, lad. They'll let us in when they're ready."

They were, apparently, ready. The door swung open and the doctor appeared. "Congratulations, Mr. Mossop. You've got a healthy baby girl."

Will moved past him and Maggie's sisters, not relaxing until he saw his Maggie. She was propped up in bed, looking tired but triumphant with a baby in her arms.

"I'll call back to see you tomorrow, Mrs. Mossop, but I don't expect to have to stay."

"I'll see you out, Doctor," Alice said, following him out.

Mr. Hobson shut the door behind them, and started making disappointed sounds about girls, but Will ignored him, and stooped to accept the bundle and hold his daughter for the first time. She gazed up at him, the disapproving look on her face the image of Maggie's. Will felt his heart swell with love and pride at this miracle of his and Maggie's making. "By gum," he whispered, barely able to believe she was his.

"You're not disappointed, are you, Will?" The triumph on his Maggie's face had changed to a faintly vulnerable look.

Will smiled and shook his head. "Nay, love. I'd have to be mad to be disappointed." Realising Mr. Hobson was still snorting behind him, Will turned. "Father, look."

Mr. Hobson fell silent as he gazed at the baby, his face taking on a tender look that Will would never have expected from him. After a moment, he drew himself up and adopted his usual manner. "Aye. Aye, well, she'll do."

From the glance Maggie gave him, she wasn't fooled either.

"So, what'll you be naming her? Mind, it needs to be something sensible." Vicky's decision to name her child Aurelia was, apparently, still rankling.

"Father!" Vicky cried.

"Margaret," Will answered promptly. "After the finest woman in all Manchester." He handed his daughter back to her mother.

"Margaret... Oh, after our Maggie. Well, it could be worse." Mr. Hobson drew himself up. "I'll be off downstairs and take Vicky with me. I don't suppose I can wet the baby's head with owt but tea but it'll have to do."

"We'll bring you up some tea, Maggie, then you can rest," Vicky said. She leaned over the bed and fussed with the baby's blanket. "She's almost as pretty as my Aurelia. That's a surprise."

The look she threw at Will told him where that barb had been aimed.

"Vicky." Maggie's voice was quiet but it was enough.

Vicky tossed her head but silently followed her father from the room.

Will fetched a chair and sat down next to the bed. He felt almost dazed, though he'd known for months of his Maggie's pregnancy and how there would - God willing - be a baby.

"Alright, lad?"

"Aye." Will nodded and inched his chair closer. "It's just a lot to take in. She's here, our Margaret. And one day, she'll be grown and married with children of her own."

"Give her a chance, love. She's got a fair bit of growing up to do first."

"It makes me feel immortal, like. Thee and me - we'll live on forever through her and her children and her children's children. I've never felt this way before. Why, it's better even than when I first saw my name above the cellar shop in Oldfield Road."

"And now here we are in St. Anne's Square."

"Aye. Here we are, owners of the best boot shop in Manchester...and parents to our Margaret. By gum!" Will looked at the woman who'd made it all possible. But for his Maggie fixing to marry him, he'd still be an eighteen shilling a week boot-hand - aye, and married to Ada Figgins and living with her mother. The old Willie Mossop would never have dreamed of owning a shop in St. Anne's Square.

Maggie yawned, an action echoed by her daughter who promptly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"And here I am keeping you talking." Will stood up and gave his Maggie a kiss. "Thank you." He didn't respond to her tired look of enquiry, instead saying he'd send Vicky up with her tea. Once outside the bedroom, he drew himself up tall. Here he was, William Mossop: Business owner, husband to Maggie, and father to Margaret. Forget St. Anne's Square, Will felt he could take over the world.

The end.  
26th September 2016.


End file.
